In the spirit of Christmas this interview profiles Dr Peter Macdonald, who's been the Independent Member of Parliament for Manly in New South Wales for the last 5 years and will now leave parliament to go back to medicine.

Saturday 19 Dec 1998

In recent years a campaign has been mounted to preserve the four huts at Cape Denison on Commonwealth Bay which were used by Australia's most famous antarctic explorer, Douglas Mawson early this century. About 1500 kilometres away on Ross Island the New Zealanders are also facing a similar problem with the preservation of the base hut used by Ernest Shackleton. Just what should be preserved, how much should be returned home for restoration, and how many people should be allowed to visit these fragile monuments? On a visit to the Antarctic, Ian Anderson describes the huts, their condition, and some of the surprising things he found inside them.

How did the legend of Santa Claus begin? Was his red suit a marketing invention of the Coca Cola company? Roger Highfield looks at the various legends and scientifically deconstructs Santa. He also outlines the various theories and problems of the virgin birth.

Have you ever wondered what our houses will be like in the 21st century? Journalist, Peter Hadfield visited an exhibition 21c house in Tokyo and found that it was equipped with fibre optics throughout which allows all the digital technologies to talk to each other. A whole week's television can be saved on a home server and watched at leisure on a television which hangs on the wall and is as clear as a cinema screen. Even the toilet measures your weight and body fat and almost instantly analyses the level of sugar in your urine. In the kitchen, the refrigerator keeps track of the food stored and the kitchen monitor may give you a sharp reminder that you to cut down on certain items in the interests of health. Even in the bedroom the computer stores information about your health and is linked to the local doctor if something appears to go amiss.

Material Scientist, Colin Humphries went back to ancient literature and found two recorded sightings of stars standing overhead and they were both comets. He links records in ancient China to what the wise men saw and suggests that the Star of Bethlehem was also a comet.

The Royal Society has combined with the National Portrait Gallery in London to try to make the names of famous scientists more generally known and more real to the wider public and the younger generation. The Gallery's director, John Cooper showed Wendy Barnaby around the exhibition and talked about the portraits and what the artists had tried to convey about their subjects.

Saturday 12 Dec 1998

According to the Dreamtime, Australian aboriginal people have always lived here. Now, scientists may at last have direct evidence to prove them right. Human bones found at Lake Mungo near Canberra in the early 70s, have just been re-dated from under 30,000 years to between 50 and 70,000 years of age. Leigh Dayton talked to Alan Thorne, who was among the first scientists to study the remains and, in an excerpt from an earlier Science Show, archaeologist John Mulvaney told the story of how the bones were discovered.

Have all the great discoveries of science already been made? Sir John Maddox, once editor of the foremost science journal in the world, Nature, says No. In fact, he's written a book called, 'What Remains to be Discovered'.

This week, The Sydney Theatre Company launched a new concept for its youth and education program, PULSE 10. In 1999, for the first time, a group of ten young actors will dedicate four months to creating work solely for young audiences.

Saturday 5 Dec 1998

Among the treasures in the old library at Trinity College, Dublin is the closely guarded ancient Book of Kells, reputedly written by Irish monks on an island off Scotland about 1200 years ago. The Book of Kells is a copy of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, written in Latin with magnificent illuminated illustrations and it requires careful conservation measures.

Dr Luke O'neill has just received an international an international award for his research into Rheumatoid Arthritis. He explains that some diseases such as arthritis and multiple sclerosis might be caused by an overactive auto-immune response. His main interest is at the molecular level, trying to discover how certain genes are turned on when joints become inflamed.

The Irish population is the most isolated population in Europe, genetically speaking. Professor David McConnell 's research into the origins of the Irish in pre-historic times, has shown that they are not much different in modern times than they were 2000 years ago. Because Cystic fibrosis occurs at a much higher frequency, 1 in 1600 births, in the Irish population than in any other population in Europe, this tells us that at some time one of the founders of the Irish population carried this gene.

On his desk at the Geology Museum at Trinity College, Dublin, Dr Ian Sanders has a piece of the Murchison Meteorite which he exchanged for a piece of rock with turned out to be a piece of Mars. Dr Sanders explains how planets are formed, how it's possible to tell where meteorites come from, and why, because of the wet climate very few meteroites have been recovered in Ireland.

Why are plants from Thailand in the Herbarium at Trinity College, Dublin? Because the first person to collect in Thailand at the beginning of this century was an Irish medical man who travelled by elephant and water to collect a phenomenal amount of specimens which he then took back to Ireland. Botanist John Parnell also does his botanising in Thailand and he says that 1 in 120 species collected are new to science and there are so many species that it will take many, many years to collect them all.

Professor Ross Taylor talks about his early life, his wide-ranging research interests and his passion for astronomy. In fact, Professor Taylor has a personal stake in the solar system as the asteroid 5670 was recently named Rosstaylor.

Saturday 28 Nov 1998

Just the word, TERMITE, strikes fear into the hearts of homeowners; and no wonder, given that the world's termite population weigh three times more than all the human beings in the world. But according to Dr Paul Eggleston there are good and bad termites. Dr Eggleston studies termites in tropical forests all over the world, and at a display at the Natural History Museum in London he describes the intricate workings of a termite mound. He wants to focus attention on the importance of termites to ecosystems and educate poor farmers by showing them that loss of soil fertility and crop yield are linked to lack of termites. At present there are studies going on in Asia, South America and in Africa.

This week Science magazine published news of the discovery of Suchomimus, a13 metre long meat-eater, while Nature published a paper on a clutch of sauropod dinosaur eggs in 65-80 million year old rocks from Patagonia, some containing skin impressions.

Gossip is good for you. Gossip keeps civilisation together. According to Professor Robin Dunbar we are constructed to interact with a certain number of people in an intimate way, and it began with nitpicking, with sitting on the ground and grooming. He explains the link between grooming and social interaction and the development of language.

Reports that enrolments in Science at our universities are decreasing by 10% per year are disturbing for the science community, but Trinity Anglican School in Cairns has reason to be proud of their science program.

Today's profile continues a conversation with archaeologist Professor Rhys Jones which we began last week, starting with his arrival in Australia and how he began his work here. This week, we go back to his homeland and begin at the beginning.

Science journalist Leigh Dayton reported on the Kazakstan launch of the first stage of the planned International Space Station, Zarya . But, as exciting as this launch may be, it is not without critics. So far the ISS has cost $20 billion US dollars and is expected to cost $100 billion over its 10 to 20 year lifetime and is nearly five years behind schedule.

Saturday 21 Nov 1998

In this Science Show Special Sharon Carleton looks at the amazing, biazrre and rather sad story behind the discovery and the development of Penicillin - perhaps the most marvellous drug discovery this century.

Today's profile is the first of a two-part conversation with Welsh-born archaeologist Professor Rhys Jones, who came to Australia in 1963 and has made some of the most significant archaeological discoveries of Australia's pre-history.

Saturday 14 Nov 1998

Just weeks ago a tsunami devastated villages on the coast of West Sepik in Papua New Guinea. Opinions vary about what causes a tsunami but all are agreed that even a minute's warning can make a difference to the chances of survival. Dr Jonathon Nott is Senior Lecturer in environmental science and natural disasters at James Cook University in Cairns and he flew in with the International Tsunami Survey Team to do a scientific assessment. They talked to survivors about the time before the tsunami hit and found that many villagers had gone down to the beach when the ocean receded; a sign that a tsunami is imminent. They advised that if people had instead run to high ground or started to swim across the lagoon, many more would have survived. They also found that whereas palm trees were destroyed the casuarina trees held on, making the casurina as useful tree for beach front plantings.

Anthrax. Brucellosis. Hendra virus. Dr David Adams talks about how zoonoses, diseases which can be passed from animals to humans, are spread. When zoonotic diseases are mentioned the Influenza virus which killed millions in the pandemic of 1918, is the first that comes to mind because it changes continually among animals then jumps to the human population. Others are the chicken virus in Hong Kong, Mad Cow disease in England, and of course, the Equine morbillivirus, recently renamed Hendra virus, which killed Australian racehorse trainer Vic Rail.

Synaesthesia means the mixing of the senses, so that some people see words and sometimes even individual letters in colour. Others hear music in colour or even taste shapes. In fact, American neurologist Dr Richard Cytowic has written a book called, 'The Man Who Tasted Shapes'. It's published in paperback by Abacus, $14.95.

Once or twice every 33 years the Earth crosses the path of a comet when the comet has just recently gone by and plunges into debris left by the comet. In this case the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which passed the Earth in January this year, has left behind debris which we will run into at 160,000 miles an hour. The debris burns up in the upper atmosphere about 60 miles high leaving streaks of light in the sky. So, early in the morning on Wednesday, 18th November the skies could be ablaze with meteors. I say 'could' because the Leonid Meteor Show can sometimes be a fizzer, but between 200 and 5000 'shooting stars' are expected to occur between 3am and 6am (Eastern daylight savings time). The best place to view the Leonid Show is in the area of Broome in Western Australia.

Zoonoses are diseases that can pass from animals to humans. The most well known zoonoses in Australia are anthrax and brucellosis originate in sheep and cattle. But there's another zoonoses which has had quite a bit of publicity over the last few years; equine morbillivirus, recently re-named Hendr virus after the Brisbane suburb where it originated. Microbiologist Jenny Davis lists other, less publicised microbes carried by our indigenous animals which can be passed to humans.

Saturday 7 Nov 1998

Professor Roger Needham is the Pro Vice Chancellor of Cambridge and Head of Microsoft U.K., the only Microsoft laboratory outside of the United States. Professor Needham talks about his academic life and what it's like to work for such a huge company. He tells us that Bill Gates' criteria for hiring is: Hire the best people you can find and let them do what they do best , which is one of the reasons that he took up this challenge at an age when most people would be considering retirement.

This week Dr George McDonald, now head of the world famous Museum of Civilisation in Canada, was appointed Director of the Museum of Victoria. Dr McDonald, an anthropologist and archaeologist, believes that museums should lead in the cultural revival of indigenous peoples and aims to exhibit a significant collection of Aboriginal artefacts. Dr McDonald will take up his new job in February 99.

As part of her studies, Carla Litchfield conducted behavioural research projects with chimpanzees at the Adelaide Zoo by devising a range of objects which encouraged behaviours observed in wild populations. She now combines her research with conservation work in Africa and she describes the agony of chimpanzees caught in snare nets and the resulting loss of fingers, toes, hands, feet and even whole limbs. Ms Litchfield believes that while tourism has brought attention to the plight of chimpanzees in Africa, it also threatened to destroy the object of its attentions, and with this in mind she has drawn up a set of guideliness for 'responsible tourism'. The book is called, 'Treading Lightly:Responsible Tourism with the African Great Apes'; the foreword is by Dr Jane Goodall. You can get a copy for $7.95 from all outlets of Travellers' Medical and Vaccination Centre or from the Adelaide Zoo shop. Proceeds will support the great ape projects in Uganda, or if you wish to donate to the anti-snare and other conservation projcts for chimpanzees and gorillas in Uganda, send cheques to:

Saturday 31 Oct 1998

As he prepares to leave Australia to take up a Professorship in Bioethics at the University Centre for Human Values at Princeton University in the United States, Professor Peter Singer talks about his early life and education in Melbourne and his work overseas, and about his commitment to animal liberation and the reasons for his attitudes. Professor Singer's book, Animal Liberation was written in Oxford 1973 and New York in 1974.

How do you rescue a dinosaur who's been dead for upwards of 150 million years? Paul Michna is a teacher in far North Queensland who takes interested groups out in the field to rescue exposed dinosaur remains. Bones exposed to the effects of the strong northern sun are badly deteriorated after six months to two years, so if fossils are in a perilous condition from exposure they are excavated and the really special ones donated to the Richmond Museum. Significant fossil finds are re-buried and reported to the Richmond Museum for later recovery,

A report in the Scientific Correspondence column of this week's journal, Nature finds that wallabies and kangaroos increase their speed of hopping with little increase in their metabolic energy, which allows the females to carry large young in their pouch at very low cost, with no increase in metabolic energy expenditure. Russell Baudinette talks about his research.

Two Adelaide microbiologists have questioned findings that Sydney's water contamination was caused by dead dogs. Their research focuses on the immunology and genetics of Giardia and their recent discovery, using molecular genetic techniques, that humans, ruminants and dogs are predominantly infected by distinct species of Giardia suggests that most human infections do not originate from animals.

Pick up any standard anatomy textbook, turn to the page on the clitoris, and you'll find the entry is somewhat brief compared to the page on the penis. Because the descriptions were so inadequate, urological surgeon Helen O'Connell from the Royal Melbourne Hospital realised that surgeons could be cutting through unknown nerves during common surgical procedures like hysterectomies and incontinence surgery. She set out to investigate the internal structures of the clitoris and discovered that it was much larger than anyone had previously thought.

Since August more than 2 million residents of Sydney and surrounds have been on an on again/off again 'boil water'alert because of the presence of cryptosporidium and giardia in test samples of the water supply. This week the third report of the Sydney Water Inquiry found that the testing methods were unreliable and that there may have been mis-identification of some algae as parasites, and counts done on degraded cryptosporidium oocysts. Sydney Water's laboratory, Australian Water Technologies (AWT) has come in for scathing criticism.

Saturday 24 Oct 1998

What's the difference between liver cells and brain cells? Liver cells are designed to die upon insult and be replaced quite quickly, while brain cells are not replaced after the age of 20. Professor Keith Tipton has done extensive research into the effects of alcohol on brain function and now he's looking at the effects of the drug Ecstasy.

Black smokers are very high temperature hot springs that come out of the bottom of the sea. They're found where the Earth's techtonic plates are splitting apart and hot magma is coming up from below, emerging as hot springs. The water from these black smokers contains high concentrations of high concentrations of metals which release tiny particles that make plumes of black smoke that rise 200m above the sea floor. A new black smoker system has been discovered in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean which could represent the origins of life.

What happens when you're stung by a Box Jellyfish? Well, there are two species of Box Jellyfish, but only one is venomous; so it depends on which one stings you and also on the severity of the attack. If it's a very big attack you can expect to live for under 2 minutes. There is an antidote - but it needs to be administered immediately. The theory is that the adults spawn in creeks and the young wash out to sea with heavy rains, but not a lot is known about what causes the start of the Stinger season, which is shorter the further south you go. Jamie Seymour is interested in the seasonality and what switches them on and off. He's also using tracking devices in his research to find out how these creatures hunt and live.

A recent Oxford University study has shown that the dangers of using a mobile phone while driving are about the same as those associated with drink driving. Why should this be? Well, with drink driving your sense of timing is impaired, but with talk driving you concentrate on what you hear directly into your ear, which confuses the sense of direction by dividing attention between what you see and what you hear.

Professor Kip Thorne is one of the legends of today's physics, the father of wormholes, creative advisor to Carl Sagan and wagerer with Stephen Hawking. He talks about his childhood in the Rocky Mounds and his early ambition to be a snowplough driver, which ended when he discovered astronomy at the age of eight. He also talks about his work at Caltech, his bests on the possibilities of the laws of physics with various famous scientists and his belief that the biggest questions in physics lie ahead of us and that the really incredible mysteries are still to be solved.

Research into life at extreme ocean depths has provided exciting and unexpected results; but none more strange and intriguing than the octopus which changes colour at depths of almost 2.5 kilometres below the surface of the ocean. Dr Janet Voight talks to ABC Science Reporter, Dr Paul Willis about her research into the amazing variety of animals that live around hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor.

This week the Prime Minister, John Howard announced the appointment of a new Minister for Science, Senator Nick Minchin. Science communicator, Peter Pockley reported on the new minister who's also the Minister for Industry, Resources, Sport and Tourism.